By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 10, 2020: THE Ministry of Power has issued notification to cover all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) under the preview of the EC Act. As per the notification, which was formulated in consultation with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) "All entities having issued distribution license by State/Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission under the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003)" are notified as Designated Consumers (DCs).

After this notification, all the DISCOMs will be governed under the various provisions of EC Act, such as Appointment of Energy Manager, Energy Accounting & Auditing, identification of Energy Losses Category wise, Implementation of energy conservation & efficiency measures etc. for each DISCOMs. Earlier, the DISCOMs whose annual energy losses were equal to or above 1000 MU were only covered as DCs. Now with this notification, the number of DISCOMs covered under the EC Act will increase from 44 to 102. This decision will facilitate Energy Accounting & Auditing as mandatory activity for all the DISCOMs, leading to the actions towards reducing losses and increase profitability of DISCOMs.

The amendment is expected to help DISCOMs to monitor their performance parameters and bring in transparency in the Distribution sector through professional inputs. It will also assist in developing projects for reducing the electricity losses by DISCOMs and implementing effective solutions. The amendment is expected to improve the financial state of the DISCOMs. The quarterly data of these DISCOMs will be collected and monitored by the government to suggest measures for increasing the efficiency and reduce the energy loss. This move is expected to gradually become more effective if extended upto the level of end consumers.